The Contraception debate- childfree perspective

[LoobyDop]

Is anyone else finding themselves a bit irked by the current rash of media attention given to stories about the evils of contraception? Davina McCall saying that we aren’t properly informed about the pill, Mary Harrington calling women who take the pill “cyberhumans”…
As someone who has happily taken the pill for most of my adult life, and is extremely grateful to it for enabling the life I’m living very happily, I find it quite irritating. It feels as though there’s an underlying implication that by choosing to opt out of that one aspect of biological womanhood, we are lesser, or too stupid to understand what we’re throwing away, and that it can’t possibly be an informed, positive choice. I don’t want to dog-whistle to the loons, but AIBU?

YABU

Just because you personally don't have any issues doesn't mean there aren't issues.

YABU

As PP said

I do see what you're saying, but I also think there are issues and health consequences with what we're expected to put into our bodies.

It would be beneficial if men could take more responsibility for contraception, but god forbid they are adversely affected in any way...

I think it's terrible men never got a male pill because of the side effects and the women's pill has the same side effects

On the other hand I'm irritated that there seems to be a push back against women having a choice over being a mother at the moment. From anti abortionists to people bleating on about birth rates dropping there seems to be a real push from some quarters at the moment to make women feel like they have to keep having babies. And that pisses me off.

I'm also confused why one of the posters on here who has multiple children decided to weigh in on the childfree perspective but it does seem to be the day for it

Long past the age of needing contraception, but McCall has identified the 'woman's issues' such as menopause and contraception as the niche that gets her publicity and column inches and programmes on TV. I have no idea who Mary Harrington is or what a cyberhuman is or why taking contraception turns you into one.

there seems to be a real push from some quarters at the moment to make women feel like they have to keep having babies

My MSN feed this morning had an article from the Telegraph that in a few years time the state pension might be unaffordable because of a declining birth rate. The message couldn't have been clearer so obvs a nudge unit is in full swing here.

I take the pill and I’ve never had any issues. I’m glad it’s available as one of the options for contraception and everyone is free to find what works best for them and do that. It’s not fair to call other women names etc for the contraceptive they choose. Especially when for childfree women we are rarely ‘allowed’ to choose a permanent method of not getting pregnant ‘incase you change your mind’.

Mary Harrington calling women who take the pill “cyberhumans”…

This sounds like an ill-considered soundbite from MH (to put it charitably).

I especially agree with the latter part of this statement. I asked, consistently from age 24, just after I married until 42, when it was finally granted and I had a hysterectomy before my 43rd birthday.

I'd love there to be more options for contraception.
There are loads of us who can't take the pill. Loads who put up with side effects that they really shouldn't have to.

The pill offered women great freedom and has been an amazing thing. But that doesn't mean we don't deserve better and more options.

And women should have informed choice, we should know the side effects, especially if taking it long term.

And men should have more choice than condoms or vasectomy.

But women who do take the pill shouldn't be shamed or called names, that's ridiculous.

Im 50 and really want to stop taking the Mini Pill. I had a few breakthrough bleeds last year. Cant remember when my last period was but the thing is i have no idea if they have naturally stopped or the Mini Pill has stopped them. A dilemma i wouldnt now have if i had been sterilised when i asked for it 25 years ago 20 years ago 15 years ago etc etc. So i cant risk coming off it in case im still producing ovum but i could be taking it needlessly. Its ridiculous

My sister was hospitalised with a blood clot in her lungs, which she would not have got if she was not on the pill at the time. It quadruples your risk of stroke and women who suffer migraine with aura are not allowed to take it because our existing stroke risk is so high.

More reliable contraceptives with fewer and less-dangerous side-effects exist. Women aren't faced with a choice between the Pill and endless babies. YABU for titling your post "contraception debate" and then only talking about the Pill.

I'm all for there being more discussion around contraception, especially the hormone-based ones because so often the side-effects are dismissed as nothing/in your head/just part of being a woman.

The first pill I was on was horrendous, I cried all the time and was utterly miserable. Thankfully I had a sympathetic nurse (my practice has a contraceptive specialist nurse) who immediately whipped me off them and onto something more suitable. I've been decades on that now and I know there are side-effects, both noticeable (I'm still a healthy weight but not as slim as I was) and theoretical (slightly increased risk of stroke) but to me they are absolutely worth it as I no longer have horrendously irregular and heavy periods which affected my quality of life nor do I have such bad PMT that I was a danger to anyone within a mile radius (seriously, I threw a garden implement once).

It's all about informed choice - it's right to inform but it isn't right to suggest an informed choice is wrong. However, that's not to say that there isn't room for other options - either for them to be more widely discussed/available or for new options to be developed - because so often women's health issues are filed under "We found a solution so now we'll stop trying because we're hoping it will suit everyone even though we know it won't".

I've been on the pill since I was 14 - first for acne, then for contraception. Can't take anything with oestrogen because it almost gave me a stroke!

I'm in peri and would like to come off the pill to see how it affects my peri symptoms. DH has agreed to the snip so no contraceptive reason to be on it. I have a laparoscopy in a couple of weeks (right in the middle of the dr's strike!) to look at my endo and make a plan going forward so will take it from there.

@JorisBonson The Pill has oestrogen in it. Do you mean the mini-pill?

Yeah sorry - spent a good 13 years on the combined pill before it tried to kill me!

Me too. I had the Mirena coil removed recently as it was causing problems. I can’t take the combined pill due to migraines and the mini pill makes me want to die. I can’t/won’t have the copper coil as my periods are bad enough as it is (thanks endometriosis) and I don’t want the implant because I have PCOS (which I believe was caused by Mirena) so don’t want to have an androgenic progestin in my system. Condoms aren’t very reliable, so I’m at a loss about what to do really. Just as well I’m single!

Cyberhumans? Jeez the Pill never gave me the strength of a Cyberman (Dr Who), I feel robbed.

It also never gave me any serious problems. I took it from 18 to perimenopause, only partly for contraception (never met a man I fancied and mercifully was never raped) but mostly because it was the one thing that controlled my godawful periods.

You realise most women with children take contraception though right? Or are all the women with children you know permanently pregnant from their first period until menopause? It's strange you interpret this as a them and us issue rather than something that affects all women. Yes the pill is fantastic and has revolutionised things but it's not perfect for all women due to side effects and more research is needed to discover new alternative methods.